I'm starting a cd-r label! I'm pretty stoked for this. I've been kicking the idea of it around for a while and I've finally decided to start it up.
My first release is going to be for my friends Quercus Montana. They're from around here (York, PA) and play some sweet country/bluegrass jams with a weird poppy feel to them. Think Neutral Milk Hotel mixed with Gram Parsons while hanging out somewhere in the Appalachians drinking moonshine! Rough demos can be found at http://www.myspace.com/quercusmontana
All of the releases are going to be pretty limited. Probably around 100-150 depending on what the bands want. I've been talking to a few other bands and hopefully some of them will pan out. I'm pretty stoked!
Let me know what you guys think. Would anyone buy this Quercus Montana just from hearing their demo songs? Josh Sisk will be carrying the releases as well! Oh yea..name of the label is NECESSARY MEGAHERTZ
Daughters (blah blah grind, write same song over and over and have kids eat it up. neat!)
The New Flesh (my favorite band right now and will be for a long time. "intense" is barely a word to describe it. <3 <3 <3 )
The Fallen Lie (I had to go to the bathroom before writing this and I still have no idea who this band is)
Clancy Six (yours truely! we play songs that are fast and sometimes slow and usually drunk..free hugs to those who say Hi!)
Doors at 8pm Show at 9pm so you can still make it home early because you either have work/school the next day. Seriously, who goes to a show on Monday? Give me a break? Sheesh.
Today, in the mail, I received a copy of the new Isis - Remix Vol 3 12". I have no recollection of ever ordering this even though I've been meaning to get it. I look at the receipt and notice that I ordered this online at some absurd hour in the morning. I start thinking and I kind of remember being drunk on that night. This is the first time I can honestly say i've done something cool while being drunk.
Hi. I just got back from playing what could possibly be one of the stupidest shows my band has played so far. It was a show in Harrisburg, PA at a place called Champion Ship Vinyl. A really retarded "record store" that also has a space for shows. First off, my record collection was bigger than their entire selection they had to offer. Whatever, they had the first Black Dice 7" so it was kind of cool.
Anyway, the show..we played to 2 people! Our friend and sometimes roadie Mike Mann and our singer's wife, Florence. I think 2 other people might've strayed into the room. Our drummer was high and some of us were buzzing so it was ok that we were fucking up songs and just generally not caring. All in all it was fun having an out of town band practice. Lets do it more often, ok?
For anyone that cares, Clancy Six will be playing at American University in lovely Washington, DC THIS Sunday October 3rd. I believe it is at The Tavern on campus. It will be with Amateur Party and True If Destroyed and probably one more band. If you need info please consult with Brian, dozer@riseup.net. Thanks and hope to see some of you there!
1. Fights
A few days ago I returned from practice and before I left, witnessed 2 vagrants arguing about something (perhaps money?). Bizarre things such as "YOU FUCKED UP YOUR ENTIRE LIFE!!!" and "YOU DON'T KNOW ME, GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!!" were yelled as I was trying to use the payphone by them. Needless to say, an honest to goodness fight broke out and was some of the funniest shit I've ever seen. It was pretty run of the mill but highlights included a sweet, well placed flying cross kick to the one dude's chest and a simultaneous punch out where both vagrants fell flat on their ass at the same time as if it were choreographed. It seriously felt like I was in a 3 Stooges skit. I was watching all of this from the relative safety of my car as I had just gotten into it when this ordeal broke out and with Phil Collins playing on the radio as I drove away, it was nice knowing that at least my life wasn't AS fucked up as these 2 gentlemen.
2. Drunk girls breaking things
Got back from a show a while ago and after loading in the gear we noticed a punch of boxes and whatnot on the sidewalk. We go through everything and there are a bunch of empty spiral notebooks, corporate training videos, and a broken fax machine. While we're going through this a drunk girl stumbles out of nowhere and asks what's up. We tell her we're looking through garbage and I tell her that she is more than welcome to whatever she finds. She gets a weird look on her face and then picks up the fax machine and smashes it against a nearby garage door and then runs off. I should've gotten her name or number because she was super cute.
3. Construction
The road our space is on is under construction and during practice earlier this week, our drummer's car was blocked in by cement trucks. They were working on the road but the thing was they didn't close it till after his car was parked there. Luckily, we got out in time to move it or else it would've been towed or had shit thrown on it. Bulldozers were ready to fuck this car up.
And who says that nothing cool ever happens here in York, PA.
I've been bummed out ever since the Olympics have started. For those who do not know I am first generation Greek (meaning my parents came over on a boat to this country of ours) and even catching a glimpse of NBC's coverage of the games puts me in a bad mood. I haven't been back to the Motherland in about 10 years and all I've been thinking about lately is just fuckng dropping everything and getting on a plane and going back!
Am I entering the young adult mode of "Yes, I will move to Europe and drop out of society" part of my life? Who knows. What I do know is that I"m currently saving up some paper to finally go to Greece again early next year. You're more than welcome to come with me.
My itinerary so far is to:
Chill in Athens with relatives.
Chill on the island of Lesvos, where my dad is from, and read Sappho with lesbians
Go on those crazy island tours of Mykonos etc and maybe get spotted on E!'s "Wild On" series.
Drink lots of Ouzo! andyell Opa! at everything that moves.
Buy Iannis Xenakis records
Like I said, you people are more than welcome to hop along.
Save yourself some money and don't rent the movie Elephant. It is stupid and a waste of time. Gus Van Zant is a prick. Unless you like to watch dumb high school kids aimlessly walk around forever and have scenes repeat for no reason than go ahead and be my guest. I stopped watching this movie halfway through because I was getting mad. I am done rambling now.
1. Curb Your Enthusiasm - Complete First Season DVD - I may be a bit late on this but after never seeing a single episode of this show, I finally picked this up. Had me close to tears from laughing so hard many times. Amazing how Larry David gets completely REAMED in every episode.
2. The Roots - Tripping Point - I spent close to $200 on records this weekend in Philly and this album is one of the many I picked up. Has been in my car's cd player non-stop. Probably their best album yet and a great follow up to "Phrenology"
3. Growing - getting to see them live 2 days in a row - Growing are this great ambient/drone band from Olympia, WA. Words can't even begin to describe the music they play. Lots of beautiful, delayed guitars with brooding drones. Kind of a mellower Sunn O))) or Earth. I got to see them twice in Baltimore and Philly this past weekend. Baltimore show was cool but there was only like 10 people there and they only played 30 minutes. The next night in Philly they played close to an hour and also had a visual presentation. I wish I could've eaten some shrooms during their set.
4. All the rain we've been having. Not sure what's going on in your area but it rained like a motherfucker here in PA and was a much needed welcome to the oppressive heat.
5. Rita's Italian Ice - I want to apply for a job at the one near my house just so I could just sit around and eat Italian ice all day.
So my band just got back from a show in West Chester, PA. Not too bad. The kid doing the show was cool and it was a new cafe that just started doing shows and everyone was courteous and nice. A change of pace from the usual douches we end up working with.
Oh yea, during the set, our singer wa sweating up on a lot of people and getting up in their mix. Most didn't appreciate it. At one point he bit some dude in the ankle and got kicked. A few hours from now he will be at his straight job as a school teacher. Punk rock dudes!
After we got home and loaded the gear at our space we found a bunch of office supplies some place by us threw out. There was an old typewriter in the trash as well. I destroyed it with some random drunk girl that happened to be walking by. She told me my throw was "wussy" and then she picks this thing up and slams it against the building. Pretty intense. I should've gotten her number but she just ran off after throwing it.
I'm a huge fan of Born Against/Men's Recovery Project/anything Sam McPheeters related basically. This is a top 10 Best Records list for MRP. To say the least, its very entertaning.
Men's Recovery Project
Sam McPheeters' Men's Recovery Project rose like a phantom out of the ashes of the legendary Born Against. Since their inception they have released over ten recordings on a number of different labels including Vermiform and Kill Rock Stars. The Project is epic in scope, tackling issues from Reaganite foreign policy to Naked Sailors; from an album dedicated entirely to the socio-economic realities in the Middle East to an unfathomably diverse 60 track CD; from songs less than ten seconds long, to entire short stories spoken aloud. It would be useless to try and even categorize the band beyond calling it "strange." Comical yet responsible, horrifying yet compelling, McPheeters' altered state of mind is apparent enough...
BEST RECORDS
by Men's Recovery Project
1. Mental Abuse - Streets Of Filth (Urinal Records, 1985) - Past and future members of Psychos, Agnostic Front and AOD, these guys were the cream of the chaff in the northern New Jersey hardcore scene of the mid-1980’s. The drummer, in a fit of rancor, once hurled his skidmarked Fruit Of The Looms at an audience. Isn’t that kind of what Alan Greenspan does to all of us on a daily basis?
2. Klaus Fluoride - The Light Is Flickering (Alternative Tentacles, 1988) - This ex-DK’s bassist went solo and electronic in the late eighties to resounding critical and commercial silence. Viewed in the hindsight of his having turned evil in the aughties, this amiable, blurpy album forces one to ponder the imponderables. Like, “what makes a man gain 110 pounds and reform the Dead Kennedys?” Or, “what sorry chain of misfortunes sends a woman into the arms of a store called ‘Dress Barn’?” Or, “What happens if I stick my ass into this round thing?”
3. Tallow (Lungcast Records, 1992) - John Michaels from Towel started his musical career with Tallow in the early 90’s. To quote an MRP “fan” (out of context); "Man, I saw these mothers play and all I gotta say is Shit, there were black men doin it with mother earth hippy woman, Chinese man doin it with big nose, there was love man. Underage, overage, underwear, man, no one give a fuck, man."
4. The Chairs - Mailwoman single (Parrot Records, 1993) - Only 500 of these pups were pressed, of which almost 300 were destroyed by a burst water main in a storage locker. Excellent rumpus in league with Savage Republic, Circle X, Missing Foundation, etc. One time scenemates of the embryonic MRP, this Charlottesville, VA band could legitimately lay claim to having offended both local rockers Gwar and (then) Virginia Governor George Allen. Songwriter Rippy abruptly disappeared in spring ’95, drummer Elizabeth went on to manage an unsuccessful health food restaurant in Atlanta, and bassist George passed away from pancreatic cancer in 1999. Who says there are no happy endings?
5. Prong - Primitive Origins (Mr. Bear Records, 1987) -These guys were nu-metal back when the term was still a cause for deep shame. Mike Kirkland of Damage, Ted Parsons of Swans, Tommy Victor of Token Entry. Eight songs of Viking With An Erection, including one Damage cover and art by Sean Taggert. Sadly, this is the only documentation we have of this tremendous band after all its members were killed in a horrible, headfirst car accident.
6. Effete Melee - Cocky Leaky (self-released, 1998) -Tremendously gay Swedish electronica from the waning days of the dot com bubble. Think Front 242, Meat Beat Manifesto, Bronsky Beat if Bronsky Beat had been a megagay IBM chess playing machine. These guys endeared themselves to us four years earlier when their free 7” was mailed to 400 American elementary school libraries, featuring such songs as “It’s Gay O’clock!” and “Hope In Dope.” Did we mention that these guys are gay? As gay as a $1,400 bill. But one wonders which president’s face would get the honors on such a denomination. Hm.
7. Miranda July - Anything goes with this big lady. She scares us.
8. The Big Chill (Motown, 1983) - Sometimes you have to wrestle with the demon to subdue it. Every generation eventually adores its predecessors; Tom Brokaw gushes over the WW2 boys and we, the Parkinson Generation, secretly salute the Boomers. From The Temptations to Three Dog Night to Procol Harum, the message is clear; the old ways are over. Face the future. It’s every man for himself. And in the end one is left with the same stomach lurch felt when standing in the San Bernardino Greyhound station men’s room at 2am on a Wednesday night, saying to a bunch of strange men; “as I have only one mouth, you will have to form one line!”
9. Cro-Mags - Age Of Quarrel (Profile / Rock Hotel, 1986) - This album inhabits the niche filled by Carol King’s Tapestry in the 1970’s and Six Finger Satellite’s Severe Exposure in the 1990’s – the signature LP of its decade. The late Mackie of Bad Brains, Paris Mitchel Mayhew, John Joseph, Doug Holland of Kraut and Harley Flannigan of the Stimulators, as all hand-picked for success by their own Malcolm Maclairinish impresario Chris Williamson. And their lyrics offer a timeless quality shared by the best John Cheever short stories. “You don’t know what’s waitin’/ Up around the bend / Open your eyes perhaps you’ll realize / if AIDS don’t get ya / than [sic] the warheads will”. Insert “Cobra Flex Plan” for “AIDS” and “unregulated political spending” for “warheads” and these guys could be the next Ben Harper.
10. No Trend - Too Many Humans (self released, 1983) - By the far best album from by far the best of the outsider DC punk bands of the early 80’s. Recorded by Don Zientara, yes, but spiritually far more akin to Nuclear Crayons, United Mutations and 9353. Check out these sparkling stanzas: “Couple on the sidewalk / See the baby drooling / old man slumping / In his Ford Fairmont Station wagon.” Comes with original insert. Vinyl is VG, slight wear on inner sleeve. I accept money orders and Paypal. Serious bidders only.
So I just got back from watching the movie Dodge Ball. It was pretty cheesy but pretty hilarious. There were parts where I was laughing uncontrollably for minutes at a time. Anyone else check this out? Probably the best summer "blockbuster" movie this summer but Anchorman might come in close second.
Hey, my name is Emmanuel and this is my first post on here. Thanks to Josh Sisk for the hook up. I tend to avoid community type sites (myspace, friendster, undies only club (?!) etc) but Sisk asked me if I wanted an account and I've had a couple drinks tonight so I happily obliged his offer! I will more than likely be keeping a journal for the time being while I learn the ins and outs of Killoggs. See you guys on the Interweb.
